Mail-bag crane.



A. H. STONE.

MAIL BAG CRANE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19, 1.909.

936,489 v Patnted 0ct.1 2,1909.

HIHIHI l V I AIIIIII/IIIIIII III/AA WWI Lucas will be fully understood AXEL H. STONE, OF MARSHALLTOWN, IOJV AND ONE-THIRD TO CON JACOBS A, ASSIGNOR or ONE-THIRD TO SA on, or MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA.

MAIL-BAG CRANE.

Application filed July 19,

Specification of Letters Patent.

1909. Serial No. 508,386.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AXEL H. STONE, citizen of Norway, residing at Marshalltown, in the county of Marshall and State of Iowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Cranes, of which the following is a specification.

My inventlon pertains to mail bag cranes or devices for holding mail bags in such manner that the same can be taken on moving trains; and it has for its object to provide a mail bag holding device constructed in such manner that the mail bag is locked against removal and can only be removed when the device is unlocked by a complementary device on a passing mail car.

With the foregoing in view the invention from the following description and claims when the same are read in connection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, showing my novel device as properly arranged relative to a railway and a mail car thereon. Fig. 2 is a detail section taken in the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of-Fig. l and showing the lever for cooperating with the car tappet, and also showing the parts connected with said lever. Fig. 3 is a detail horizontal section taken in the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking downwardly.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings, referring to which:

A is a rail of a railway, and car. The said mail car B is provided with a mail bag catcher G of conventional construction or of any other construction suitable for use in combination with my improvements; and it is also equipped with a tappet D which, when extended laterally from the car body, is adapted to cooperate with the lever E of my improvements and by such cooperation unlock the mail bag des ignated F and permit the removal of the same by the catcher In the present and best practical embodiment of my invention that T have yet devised, I employ a casing G, of plastic ma- B is a mail and is provided in its Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

terial or of any other material compatible with its use. The sa1d casing is arranged in or on the ground at one side of the rallway,

upper wall with a slot H extending parallel to the railway. In the said slot the before mentioned lever E is fulcrumed at an intermediate point of its length, and in such manner both directions as swing in rows in Fig. 2. port I which extends the casing G, then up position shown, and

The box J has a keeper P made up terminals cl, Figs. 1 arms, and

mal conditions.

the keeper member (0 preferably of chain.

port I, and from this moved to carry the t ber 12.

car with a device S said devlce being, by

I also prefer to equip of the lever and being to the lower arm of the nected to the handle U that it is free to indicated by ar- 1 also employ a hollow suplaterally outward from ward and then inward,

and carries at its upper end a box J.

oses two suitably supdisposed sheaves K and two tract le springs L, the latter being arides of the lower arm connected at their and at their outer ends springs serve to yieldthe lever E in the upright to return said lever to the upright position after the tappet D passes out of engagement with the same.

a bottom wall M in which is an aperture N, and inclosed in said box is of members a and 7),

hinged together at c and having notched and 3, on their lower a coiled spring 0 interposed between the upper arms of the members a and b, and designed to yieldingly hold the opposed ends of the terminals (Z together under nor- Gonnected at one end to the upper arm of and at its opposite end lever E is a cable R, The said cable extends between the sheaves K and through the supit follows that when the lever E is swung in either direction the lower arm of the keeper member a will be ermlnal (Z on its lower arm away from the terminal (Z on the mem having a head T; the preference, loosely conat one end of the bag. the upright portion of M STONE the support I with an arm V adapted to swing vertically on a fitting IV which latter is adapted to turn freely about the said upright portion of the support. The arm V is designed to be extended through the lower handle on a bag with a view of steadymg the same, and when the bag is engaged by the catcher C said arm V will obviously permit of free removal of the bag.

In the practical use of my improvements the headed device T on one end of the bag is pressed upwardly through the aperture N in the bottom wall M of box J until its head is engaged and held by the terminals (5 on the members a and Z) of the keeper P. \Vhen the bag device S is held as stated it will be observed that the bag can only be removed when the lower arm of one keeper member is moved away from the lower arm of the other member, and from this it follows that there is no liability of the bag be ing surreptitiously removed from the crane by an unauthorized person. I also prefer in placing the bag to dispose the lower handle thereof on the arm V, for the purpose before described.-

lVith the bag placed and held in the manner before described, it will be seen that when the tappet D on the car B engages and swings the lever E, the bag device S will be released from the keeper P, and then the bag will be taken from the crane by the catcher C. It will also be observed that subsequently to the described operation, the working parts of my improvement will be returned to the positions illustrated in readiness for another operation.

With a view of supporting the upper end of the bag in the event of the bag device S being released before the catcher C engages the bag, I provide the supporting rod X shown in Fig. 1. The said supporting rod X has an upright portion journaled and held against downward movement in bearings m on the side of the box J, and an arm extending inwardly from the lower end of said upright portion and adapted to extend through the upper handle of the bag as illustrated. WVhile the said arm will serve the purpose stated, it will be noticed that there is no liability of its interfering with the release of the bag to the catcher C.

It will be gathered from the foregoing that notwithstanding the fact that my improved crane is adapted to prevent the unauthorized removal of a bag, it is simple and inexpensive in construction and is well adapted to withstand the rough usage and exposure to which mail bag cranes are ordinarily subjected.

The construction herein illustrated and described constitutes the best practical embodiment of my invention of which I am cognithorized person,

Zant, but it is obvious that in the future practice of the invention such changes or modifications may be made as do not involve departure from the scope of my invention as defined in the claims appended.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. A mail bag crane or holding device comprising a casing, sheaves suitably supported therein, a lever mounted in the casing, tractile springs disposed at opposite sides of and connected to the lower arm of the lever, a hollow support fixed with respect to the easing, a box carried by said support and having an aperture in its bottom, a headed device adapted to pass freely through said aperture and also adapted to be connected with a mail bag, a keeper comprising hinged members the lower arms of which are adapted to engage and hold the head of said'device and also comprising a spring interposed between the upper arms of the members, and a cable connected to the lower arm of the lever and extending loosely between the sheaves and through the hollow support and connected to the upper arm of one keeper member.

2. A mail bag crane or holding device comprising asuitably supported lever, a support, means for yieldingly maintaining the lever in a substantially upright position, whereby the same is adapted to be engaged and moved by a tappet on a moving car, a box carried by the support and having an aperture in its bottom, a keeper disposed in said box and having a movable element, a device adapted to be attached to a mail bag and to be held by the keeper under normal conditions, and a suitably guided cable interposed between and connecting the lever and the movable element of the keeper.

3. A mail bag crane or holding device comprising a suitably supported lever, a sup port, means for yieldingly maintaining the lever in a substantially upright position, whereby the same is adapted to be engaged and moved by a tappet 011 a moving car, a box carried by the support and having an aperture in its bottom, a keeper disposed in said box and having a movable element, a device adapted to be attached to a mail bag and to be held by the keeper under normal conditions, a suitably guided cable interposed between and connecting the lever and the movable element of the keeper, and a bag support having an upright portion journaled in bearings on the box and also having an arm adapted to freely swing below the bot tom of the box.

4. A mail bag crane or holding device comprising suitably supported means for locking a bag against removal by an unauand movable means con nected with and adapted when actuated to my hand in presence of two subscribing Witunlock said locking means; said movable nesses. means belng adapted to be engaged and J actuated by means on a moving car to then AXE'L permit of the bag being taken by a catcher WVitnesses: on the car. F. E. NORTHUP,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set E. A. PARKER. 

